Acknowledging Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Higher Education in the Pacific Island Region

Abstract

This chapter puts forward an argument for the inclusion of Pacific “indigenous knowledge systems” in official documentation and discourse on knowledge production and dissemination in higher education; and particularly higher educational institutions in Oceania. The reasons for this are outlined below, giving examples of recent attempts to bring this about at the regional University of the South Pacific (USP), a higher educational institution that is owned by 12 Pacific Island Countries (PICs), namely, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.